Research Assistance

Looking for current legislation? Need the exact text of a City of Seattle law? Interested in the history of City policy? We can help!

You can visit our information service desk and research room, call, or email.

Information Service Desk

Come visit us. Our information services team can help you:

• Find specific documents, like a piece of legislation or a report
• Research how a particular City law or program came to be
• Figure out what type of documents would shed light on a topic, and who might have them if we don't
• Use keywords, index terms and other search techniques to find items in our databases
• Create PDFs from microfiche

Research Room

Visit our research room to:

• Look at and make PDFs of legislation and other records that are on microfiche
• View current and historic versions of the Seattle Municipal Code and City Charter
• Review City budgets from the 1920s forward
• Look at Seattle Municipal Archives' materials (Tip: appointments are recommended)

Fees

Many of our records are available online with no charge; many others can be scanned by customers in our research room with no charge. When we make copies for you, some fees do apply; see our Fees for Materials and Services for details.

Helpful Guides

Our collection of Research and Engagement Resources contains many guides for researching and understanding legislation.